When they returned to Terra, Alesia went back to her routine as the Imperial Princess almost immediately. Her father managed to convince her to take a few days to decompress before returning to her studies and duties regarding the Elysian Project, and she took full advantage of that for three days by reading and playing old video games.
"I'm rather surprised you wanted my help again," Alesia said while playing the original Digimon World on a modified computer made for emulating the ancient video games from Terra's past. The Tecpriest from before was observing her progress and was jotting down notes as she encountered bugs in the programing of the game. "Is there a particular reason for this?"
"It is because you are a reincarnation," the Tecpriest explained in his monotone voice, not even phased by her clear shock. "I observed how easily you took to technology from the third millennium. Do not fret, this secret is safe. All of our interactions are heavily altered to keep your name out of the records."
"How long have you known this?" She asked, doing her best not to raise her voice. Not even Kithes knew of this.
"Ever since your duel with the Duel Disk system. Your reaction to the deck you used confirmed your past identity to me; you were the famous indie animator and game streamer R.C."
Her heart twisted at hearing her old pen name and she paused the game. A flood of memories surged forward in her mind as the Tecpriest continued.
"You left quite the legacy within the streamer community. The Mechanicus admires R.C. for her expertise in technology during her time and many denizens of the Imeprium that have access watch the old recordings admire her kindness and genrosity."
"What do you want?" She almost whispered. The game controller in her hands strained under her death grip. Her ears rung as her heart raced.
"Only for assistance in identifying artifacts, Your Highness. Namely what appear to be 'v-pets'."
Mentally, Alesia heard a record scratch, not at all expecting what the Techpriest had said and was sure she misheard him.
"Wait, what?" Somehow, in some weird way, she and the Techpriest became friends over identifying and recreating some Tamagotchi and Digimon devices. Alesia would never get used to the outright otaku nature the Mechanicum hid in plain sight under the guise of 'studying Terra's technological past'.
"You're not being overworked, are you, daughter?" The Emperor asked, very concerned by his youngest's behavior lately. She didn't appear physically exhausted, but it had been reported that the Princess had not been able to focus completely on her lessons as of late.
Alesia had told him of the revelation the Techpriest dropped on her and the ongoing partnership they had. While Neoth was relieved her secret was safe, he couldn't help but feel worried for his daughter's mental health.
"No, but the Fabricator General got involved and called him back to Mars just to leave me alone," she sighed, face on the table. They were sitting in the Inner Sanctum again; Neoth found the place to be relaxing and his daughter was more likely to open up to him in this space. "I think I've identified every single iteration of Tamagotchi and Digivice by now."
"I suppose that explains the sudden resurgences of those v-pets among the populace, but it does not explain your lack of focus lately."
"I'm just astounded by the absurdity of the Mechanicus, Father. Like, why are they so damned fo—"
"Language, young lady!"
"Ugh! You know what I mean! Why are they so adamant about bringing anime technology to life? It-It just bogles my mind to no end!"
"Calm yourself, child. They will not be calling upon you any time soon again." This is just another deviation from the original time line, Alesia. Nothing is going to go according to the old history at this point.
It's a big deviation considering that they mainly focus on creating tools and weapons. She pointed out.
This is a completely new time line now. I imagine we will find more oddities out there as a result of our meddling. "Come now, dearest. The Space Maids took the time to make your favorite cheesecake. Enjoy the day and relax while you can."
"I'll try."
As they continued to speak as father and daughter, Neoth's mind wondered to his daughter's aura. He had not examined her psychic aura for some time and had just noticed something off. Everyone with a presence within the Warp had a type of 'light' that represented their soul; normal beings showed as tiny balls of light almost like fairy lights, whilst Psykers appeared more like either bonfires or stars. Alesia's light was on par to the largest recorded star, covered in chains from the seal he and Magnus placed upon her birth, with an additional light he almost didn't see.
Did her soul splinter? If so, what caused the split? Nothing had occurred for such a drastic change to happen as far as he could recall. While his daughter was mastering her powers, he knew she had no idea what was going on with her very soul at that moment. Now that he focused on her soul, he made a concerning realization.
The seal was corroding. Some of the chains were either ready to break or were already broken. And her original soul, the massive beacon of light, was no longer human. The tiny light, which appeared to be a copy of her human soul, was gradually being absorbed by the larger light.
Magnus, he immediately reached out to his scarlet son. Magnus was currently back on Prospero, tending to his territory and planning the next campaign. We have a situation regarding Alesia. Our worst fears are being realized.
Lorgar resisted the urge to bite his nails. It had been almost a years since he had last seen his sister, and now he was on his way back to Terra to visit her. Ever since the death of his adopted father, he'd stayed away, even ignoring his sister's messages over Discordia. He knew he had some explaining to do, as well as a lot of apologizing for the way he treated her.
"Worried, Father?" The voice of his second First Captain brought him out of his thoughts. Argel Tal, one of the few of his sons Lorgar fully trusted after the prompt execution of Erebus, gave him a reassuring smile as if knowing what his Primarch was thinking. While Argel was more of a warrior than a chaplain, he was loyal and true to his convictions. "If she is as understanding as you and your brothers described, she will forgive you after some groveling."
He chuckled and said, "I do hope that is the case, son. We parted on…less than ideal terms."
"Considering she's always asking about your well being, I'd say she would be more than elated to see you again. With such as pure soul as her being our Lord Emperor's heir, the future is sure to be bright."
Crack post time:
In a separate universe, where this story is being written a nerdy woman going by the pen name of Riven-del, a certain entity decided to meddle.
"Oh little human~!" A certain Chaos God of Trickery chimed as he came out of a Warp portal in the woman's office. "When are you going to bring us back into the story?"
"Why not use your far sight to figure that out, oh Mighty Impatient One?" she retorted, clearly fed up with the entity. "Besides, I've gotta pay the bills and this hobby doesn't pay itself."
"How about I sweeten the deal and—"
"In the words of Rogal Dorn: no."
"I could grant you so much creativity and inspiration!"
Riven-del held up a black and red bell and rang it.
"Wait! No please!"
"Ooooooh! Long time no see, Tzeentch!" A certain mercenary from the Marvel Universe said in glee, popping out of no where and getting up close and personal to the Chaos God. "Let's play a game!"
"Not again!" The Master Manipulator tried to flee back into the Warp, but the insane man just jumped in after him, leaving the author to cackle at the sound of Tzeentch's screams of mental agony.
"That was mean," Isha said while poking her head into the office.
"But well deserved after he messed with my card collection last time!"